Barossa United FC United Senior Men’s team, playing in SAASL Division 7, travelled away to St Augustine’s on Saturday for a 3pm kick-off. After a strong win in round one, this game was anticipated to be tough, judging by the opponent’s first 2 results of the season.
The game started with St Augustine’s being the more positive and scoring early from a deflected free kick. Barossa was struggling to settle into the game and was being out-muscled on the ball. Cain Searle in goals was keeping long-range shots in control, and a well-taken shot by James Ruwoldt levelled the scores. Gradually, Barossa was getting back into the game following a couple of tactical changes. A scrappy play in the box with the ball unable to be cleared saw the home side take a 2-1 lead 10 minutes before half time. It would have been easy to drop the heads at this stage, but Barossa rallied and took control of the final 10 minutes of the first half to see Neil Beach find himself free running into goals to calmly place the ball past the keeper to level the score 2-2 just prior to the half time whistle.
The second half started in much the same fashion, with St Augustine’s hungrier and controlling the play. Following a strong run down the wing and an accurate cross, their striker headed the ball into the corner of the net to take a 3-2 lead. Again, Barossa rallied after this goal. A few more changes were made, and Barossa took control of the game for the next 20 minutes. This saw Barossa score 4 goals coming from Neil Beach again running in on goal and placing it smartly into the corner, Liam Randle and Jacob Cannon capitalising in the box from St Augustine’s failing to clear the ball and finally Gus Cioca playing a beautiful combination play with Neil Beach on the edge of the box to find himself in on goal and smartly guiding it past the keeper.
St Augustine’s drew one goal back in the final 10 minutes from a corner where their striker was unmarked to head the ball in. This saw the final score 4-6 in Barossa’s favour. A game where we will review and work on some items, as well as being pleased that for only 20-25 minutes we played to our true potential and were able to score 6 goals. This takes the Barossa Senior Men’s side to the top of the table after 3 rounds despite only playing 2 games thus far.
WE ARE BAROSSA